Control device, control method, and flight vehicle device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018273201-A1
Application number	US-201815993052-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 30, 2018
Priority date	Oct 17, 2014
Publication date	Sep 27, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

[Object] To provide a control device which enables a flight vehicle device to obtain a highly precise image.
[Solution] Provided is the control device including an illuminating control unit configured to adjust a light amount of an illuminating device according to an inclination of a body of a flight vehicle device that has an imaging device configured to photograph a photographing target and the illuminating device configured to illuminate the photographing target.

First claim

1 . A control device, comprising:
a processing circuit configured to:
control a flight of a flight vehicle device in accordance with flight information including at least flight path information of the flight vehicle device, the flight vehicle device including a imaging device,
acquire, using a sensor, state information of the flight vehicle device, and
control, using the state information of the flight vehicle device, the imaging device to capture an image of a target during flight of the flight vehicle device when a movement speed of the flight vehicle device and a movement acceleration of the flight vehicle device are equal to or lower than a criterion.

2 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the flight vehicle device includes an illumination device, and the processing circuit is further configured to cause the illumination device to emit light when the flight vehicle device is within a predetermined distance of the target.

3 . the control device according to claim 2 , wherein the light emitted by the illumination device is modulated based on a body position of the flight vehicle device.

4 . The control device according to claim 3 , wherein the light emitted by the illumination device is modulated so that the target is uniformly illuminated.

5 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the criterion includes whether the movement speed of flight vehicle has decreased below a predetermined value.

6 . The control device according to claim 5 , wherein the predetermined value is zero.

7 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to determine whether an attitude of the flight vehicle device is stable based on the movement speed of the flight vehicle device and the movement acceleration of the flight vehicle device.

8 . The control device according to claim 7 , wherein the processing circuit determines that the attitude of the flight vehicle device is stable when the movement speed of the flight vehicle device is equal to or below a first threshold and the acceleration of the flight vehicle device is below a second threshold.

9 . The control device according to claim 7 , wherein the first and second thresholds are both zero.

10 . The control device according to claim 8 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to activate a shutter of the imaging device when the attitude of the flight vehicle device is determined to be stable.

11 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the movement speed of the flight vehicle device linearly decreases when the flight vehicle device enters a predetermined range with respect to the target.

12 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the acceleration of the flight vehicle device according to a parabola of negative values.

13 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein a shutter speed and photographing gain of the imaging device are set and stored in the imaging device in advance.

14 . The control device according to claim 13 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to activate a shutter of the imaging device based on the shutter speed and photographing gain stored in the imaging device.

15 . The control device according to claim 3 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to stop modulation of the light emitted by the illumination device when a shutter of the imaging device is activated.

16 . The control device according to claim 15 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to turn off the illumination device when activation of the shutter is complete and image capture has ended.

17 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the flight information is determined relative to a horizontal plane.

18 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the flight information is determined relative to the target.

19 . A control method, comprising:
controlling, with circuitry, a flight of a flight vehicle device in accordance with flight information including at least flight path information of the flight vehicle device, the flight vehicle device including a imaging device; acquiring, by the circuitry and using a sensor, state information of the flight vehicle device; and controlling, by the circuitry and using the state information of the flight vehicle device, the imaging device to capture an image of a target during flight of the flight vehicle device when a movement speed of the flight vehicle device and a movement acceleration of the flight vehicle device are equal to or lower than a criterion.

20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer-readable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to perform a method comprising:
controlling a flight of a flight vehicle device in accordance with flight information including at least flight path information of the flight vehicle device, the flight vehicle device including a imaging device; acquiring, using a sensor, state information of the flight vehicle device; and controlling, using the state information of the flight vehicle device, the imaging device to capture an image of a target during flight of the flight vehicle device when a movement speed of the flight vehicle device and a movement acceleration of the flight vehicle device are equal to or lower than a criterion.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Sabe Kohtaro
• Tanaka Kayoko
• Suzuki Kousuke
• Masuda Masaaki
• Kakinuma Takekazu
• Hayashi Kazunori

Classifications

• B64U2201/104

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• H04N23/74

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• B64U2201/20

  Remote controls · CPC title